Originally named in memory of Lady Powerscourt, one of the 'Chief Women among the Brethren,' this is simply a place for me to collect stray thoughts about the Bible, women, the Brethren, Bible translation, manuscripts, writing systems, movies, books....

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Bruce Ware and Kevin Giles

I think some of my readers will be interested in this conversation between Denny Burk and Scot Mcknight about how Ware uses the supposed "eternal subordination of the son" to argue for the "subordination of women." That was almost two years ago. Not much has changed.

Two other women bloggers have jumped in with their opinion on Ware's recent sermon - Molly and Cindy. Several other women that I know have jumped in to comment, but others have emailed that their comments are moderated out.

Here are other blogs which discuss Bruce Ware's sermon on the subordination of women. I also want to make it clear that I think that Ware is only saying out loud what many other complementarians have written.

3 comments:

I've had to stop reading Complegalitarian because it sucks up too much of my time and emotional energy. I keep abreast of things here and at BBB.

The comp stuff is frankly outrageous, so very far removed from "love God, love one another". It springs from fear, of so many things. Its theology is deficient not only anthropologically but also in just about every other way. I'm tired of dealing with it on the Internet level, except occasionally in a safe place like Scot McKnight's blog.

I hope, as God makes it possible, to enter the Eastern Orthodox church in the future. My reasons are mainly theological (strongly Trinitarian and Christocentric, and the liturgy- oh my). Yes, some gender bias does exist there, but mostly on an ethnic level, and as you have shown from Chrysostom, that is not upheld in the theology. One of the best bible teachers I have ever heard is Dr. Eugenia Constantinou, whom I have discovered via Ancient Faith Radio. At least in North America, EO does not fear women teaching on a seminary level, or even preaching, as Frederica Matthewes-Green does quite often. (Within the schema of their theology, an all-male priesthood does not bother me; it's not about misogyny.)

Here is a wonderful quote from Gregory of Nazianzus, found in Hausherr, "Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East", p.271:

"I have known men and women who have sentiments that are entirely in heaven and keep a perfect purity of body; if there is a difference in the sexes it is visible only in that men have a stronger, more vigorous body. As for the rest, the cultivation of virtue is the same; they march together on the road leading to life eternal, and in this no one has anything more than the other except the difference of his merit and his toil."